In January 1951, the second College Soccer Bowl was held, determining the champion of the 1950 season. However, it did not determine the true national college champion. San Francisco, repeating as the West Coast champion, was again unable to make the trip to St. Louis. In an inexplicable decision, the second place team from the Midwest Conference, was sent to St. Louis (in place of conference champion Wheaton) to play the East Coast champion, Penn State in the Soccer Bowl. Penn State won the Bowl 3-1, but this left unclear the question of who was really best, since San Francisco was never matched against them. West Chester's election as national champion merely added to the confusion, raising serious questions about the tournament’s viability. Despite the confusion of the 1951 championships, the 1951 soccer season was one to remember. the San Francisco Dons scored 47 goals, winning all 12 games. In the East, the Temple Owls extended their unbeaten streak to 47 games, going 7-0-1, and securing their spot in the Soccer Bowl. Temple won that contest (in January 1952), and were voted national champion. This time, there was no doubt about who was best, but the Soccer Bowl was discontinued. It did however, cause a great upsurge of interest in soccer in the Midwest, and the 1951 season indicated a shift in the balance of power, with 5 Midwesterners making the college All-American team. Yale repeated as New England champions, Chicago won the Midwest, and perfect records were attained by Oberlin, USF, Brockport and RPI. Over 5,000 attended a North-South All-Star Game at La Salle College in Philadelphia, won by the North, 3-2.
Ballpark would've been early 1980s. I vaguely remember a college indoor tournament from the mid-80s when SLU and Purdue actually entered a joint team. And that's the last I remember hearing of college indoor or Purdue men's soccer. But I guess that's not totally true. On the YA forum, Mix Diskerud has said that his father played for Purdue.
The last time Purdue shows up on the Indiana and Northwestern schedule is 1985. The Hoosiers outscored them 76-3 in 12 all-time meetings. Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota also show up on the schedules in the late 70's/early 80's.
However, much of this (70s/80s) was while they were at club level. I have to admit I was a Purdue grad student from 76-82 (don't tell anyone!! ) and watched IU slaughter PU's men's team more than once . But again, PU was at club level at that point. I know 'cause I used to scrimmage with them. One year I watched Armando Betancourt score about 6 or 7 goals against Purdue at Purdue. BRF
i think purdue still has a club team, just not varsity. when they added women's varsity soccer, they couldn't add a men's team because of title ix... or at least that's what the AD told my dad when he was harassing him. they needed to add women's water polo or something before they could add men's soccer. now i think they have the water polo team but still no soccer. admittedly, i'm going by dad's account of this and have no idea how much is accurate.
Lots of teams played vs. club teams and Division II/III teams back then since travel was limited. Just curious, how many of Coach Yeagley's wins were vs. club or Division III teams. This in no way diminishes his legacy as the best college coach ever, but I'd be interested in how many of the 500+ wins were in this group. Probably some wins on the other side when IU was a club and won some games vs. varsity teams.
Very accurate. I believe men's crew would gain varsity status before soccer. And, yes, Purdue still has a club team. Of course, so does IU. Both club teams are part of the Midwest Alliance Soccer Conference. BRF
Excellent point. Doesn't diminish his record or standing as the best college coach ever, but it is also fair to say that coaches today face much more organized competition.
It's my understanding that Jerry's official collegiate record is distinctly represented as NCAA Division I. Someone (Sandon?) probably has that record.
Just looking over the IU record books, it looks like about 40+ wins or so vs. club or Div II/IIIs from the early days 1973-1983. 12-0 all-time vs. Purdue and includes club wins vs. Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana State (one game was 19-0) and mutiple DIII wins Earlham, Goshen, Wheaton, Wabash, etc. I am guessing all the those wins count for Jerry's record 500+ wins. Again, taking nothing away from his incredible accomplishments, just a little tougher to win games today with the RPI (Strength of Schedule), out of region games, etc. dictating your rank/seeding/selection to NCAA.
I understood that to mean his record only counts his wins when IU was an NCAA varsity team and not the wins he got as coach of IU when they were a club team. But the wins once they became varsity don't - as far as I know - differentiate in the caliber of the opponent.
NISOA apparently tried to track down the 2 referees who were involved in this 1950 match, but they were informed that both of the gentlemen have passed away...